Liv4Rut
Active Member
Second season started off great, The roosta and I decided to go out Friday night, I was gonna try bow for the first time and he was gonna back me up with the shotgun. We set up at the base of a big alfalfa field putting the blind up on the end of some big round bales. We were hoping the blind would look like a round bale. About 6:30 we had a bird responding pretty well on the other side of the creek, when I looked out the back window and saw a bird strutting about 200 yards away. Scott gave a few seductive calls and he was on his way. The bird ended up strutting within 10 yards of the blind behind us for about 10 minutes. It was absolutely killing me having a big bird so close but yet so far away for bowrange. He absolutely would not commit into the decoys. I was peeking at him through a small crack when I noticed he went out of strut and started walking away. I told scott to grab the gun, it was now or never. I held back the window a few inches and he stuck the gun out and dropped him at 30 yards. It was a double bearded bird with a 11 inch beard and a 3.5 inch beard with inch long spurs. We were pretty pumped and couldn't wait for the morning to try to get one with a bow.
Saturday morning looked promising, the birds were going nuts. It wasn't long and a long beard was strutting about 40 yards away. I positioned for a shot, but he worked away from us and never came in. After that we looked down the hill and 5 jakes were coming right at us. I didn't really want to shoot a jake, but I figured I had a bow and never shot one with my bow in the spring. They worked right into 7 yards, I pulled back and put the pin on the lead bird. About the time I did that he jerked up his head and turned around and got nervous. I honestly don't know what the heck I was thinking but I let one fly, I shot over his back about a inch or two. It was easy to see why I missed since I freaked out when he started to spook rushing the shot
Even though I missed I wasn't very worried. here is a pic of the birds
Saturday night we only saw one hen, and had this deer come in and sniff our decoy, it was kind of fun to watch .
Sunday morning we got into the blind and knew some birds were roosted right behind us. Scott let out a few sweet yelps and a bird fired up back in the timber. We got situated and then he did a few clucks and the bird responded again but closer. After a few minutes of silence the bird roared about 40 yards away entering the field. He was in full strut and coming in. I peeked out the window and saw him so I drew. He was feeding and quartering away, I aimed carefully and let one fly. The arrow struck exactly where I was aiming at the base of his hip angling up and through his whole body. Upon impact the bird took off running then flying. We both got sick to our stomach as the bird gained altitude and must of been about 30-40 yards up in the air. He started to make a circle back to the timber, when he just folded and dropped to the ground. We both let out a little shout for joy and went over and got my first bow bird. He wasn't huge but had a 9 inch beard, I was pumped. The only bad thing about the weekend was we didn't get any on tape, and I also left my memory card in my digital camera. So all I have is crappy pics from my digital camcorder, sorry it's so long
Saturday morning looked promising, the birds were going nuts. It wasn't long and a long beard was strutting about 40 yards away. I positioned for a shot, but he worked away from us and never came in. After that we looked down the hill and 5 jakes were coming right at us. I didn't really want to shoot a jake, but I figured I had a bow and never shot one with my bow in the spring. They worked right into 7 yards, I pulled back and put the pin on the lead bird. About the time I did that he jerked up his head and turned around and got nervous. I honestly don't know what the heck I was thinking but I let one fly, I shot over his back about a inch or two. It was easy to see why I missed since I freaked out when he started to spook rushing the shot
Saturday night we only saw one hen, and had this deer come in and sniff our decoy, it was kind of fun to watch .
Sunday morning we got into the blind and knew some birds were roosted right behind us. Scott let out a few sweet yelps and a bird fired up back in the timber. We got situated and then he did a few clucks and the bird responded again but closer. After a few minutes of silence the bird roared about 40 yards away entering the field. He was in full strut and coming in. I peeked out the window and saw him so I drew. He was feeding and quartering away, I aimed carefully and let one fly. The arrow struck exactly where I was aiming at the base of his hip angling up and through his whole body. Upon impact the bird took off running then flying. We both got sick to our stomach as the bird gained altitude and must of been about 30-40 yards up in the air. He started to make a circle back to the timber, when he just folded and dropped to the ground. We both let out a little shout for joy and went over and got my first bow bird. He wasn't huge but had a 9 inch beard, I was pumped. The only bad thing about the weekend was we didn't get any on tape, and I also left my memory card in my digital camera. So all I have is crappy pics from my digital camcorder, sorry it's so long
